Acceptable Use Policy


This policy sets out the Code of Conduct that you must abide by when you join AuthorAID, start a course on Moodle (learn@inasp), join a Google Group etc, or interact with other members in any other way.

By using our interactive services, you confirm that you accept the terms of this policy and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our interactive services. 

We recommend that you review this acceptable use policy periodically, as INASP may update it from time to time.

Interactive services

INASP provides interactive services, including, but not limited to:

  • The AuthorAID website (https://authoraid.info)  
  • Learn@INASP (https://learn.inasp.info/), using the Moodle Learning Management System  
  • AuthorAID’s Google group and AuthorAID-related groups on instant messaging platforms (such as WhatsApp)
  • Social media platforms (such as Facebook and Twitter)

When interactive services are provided, we will ensure clear information is communicated to you about the kind of service offered, if it is moderated, and what form of moderation is used (whether it is human or technical). 

See AuthorAID's terms and conditions for the terms of service that cover your use of AuthorAID. 

Our values and guiding principles

In it together
  • We recognise that we are all on the same research journey; some of us are just further ahead.
  • We encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion in research, aiming to make a positive impact on society.
Making change last
  • We aim for lasting change that starts and ends with the global community of researchers.
  • We empower the community to own their learning and pass on their knowledge.
Every voice counts
  • We embrace new ideas without prejudice.
  • We welcome all voices, no matter your gender, background, or where you are on your career path.
Doing things right
  • We respect each other and the work we all do.
  • We recognise the fast-paced change in the world and strive to contribute to and align with global best practice.

Code of Conduct

This applies to any and all material which you contribute to any of INASP’s interactive services, and your conduct, network and code on the platforms. 

INASP will determine, in its discretion, whether any material contributed breaches the content standards. 

You must:

  • Be accurate when stating facts
  • Comply with law applicable in England and Wales and in any country from which the content was posted

You must not:

  • Be obscene, unlawful, offensive, hateful, inflammatory, defamatory, abusive, harassing, libelous, invasive of another person’s privacy, or harm minors in any way
  • Promote sexually explicit material
  • Be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, threaten, alarm or annoy any other person or group of individuals
  • Impersonate an AuthorAID employee or User, or falsely state or otherwise represent your affiliation with a person or entity
  • Include personal or identifiable information about another person without that person’s explicit consent
  • Collect personal data about any other users for commercial or unlawful purposes
  • Promote violence
  • Promote discrimination based on race, nationality, sex, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, age
  • Infringe any copyright or other proprietary rights, patent, database right or trademark of any other party, or content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships
  • Be likely to deceive, mislead, or bait and switch any person; this includes using misleading emails, IP addresses, forged headers or otherwise manipulated identifiers in order to disguise the origin of content transmitted through the interactive services
  • Create, send, or enable anything that constitutes or contains chain letters, pyramid scheme, or any advertisement that you are prohibited from sending
  • Advertise or solicit users about any other services, products or commercial interests
  • Promote any illegal services or the sale of any items of which is prohibited or restricted by applicable law
  • Post content which contains software viruses, or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software, or hardware, or telecommunications equipment
  • Advertise posting calls for journal papers or conferences, unless it is clearly related to any ongoing discussion
  • Disrupt the normal flow of dialogue with an excessive number of messages (flooding attack) or that otherwise negatively affects other users’ ability to use the interactive services
  • Use automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download data from social networks and INASP’s interactive services – except for Internet Search Engines (e.g., Google) and non-commercial public archives (e.g., archive.org) that comply with our robots.txt file, or well-behaved web services/RSS/Atom clients. We reserve the right to define what we mean by well-behaved.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any of the interactive services or engage in any activity that disrupts, diminishes the quality of, interferes with the performance of, or impairs the functionality of, the interactive services
  • Develop, invoke, or utilise any code to disrupt, diminish the quality of, interfere with the performance of, or impair the functionality of the interactive services

If you are in doubt, revert to the contact details of the interactive service to connect with a member of the AuthorAID team (e.g., on Moodle, post a query on the technical support/technical queries forum in your course; for AuthorAID, contact authoraid@inasp.info)

Sharing photos

During use of INASP’s interactive services, the opportunity to share photos from your work may arise (for example, the Capture Your Research Competition in AuthorAID MOOCs). 

You must ensure the following:

  • Any photo you upload must be in line with the guidelines for the activity.
  • We have a strict policy of NOT accepting any photos that include children. If you are participating in the Capture Your Research Competition in AuthorAID MOOCs, for example, and you upload an image that features a child, your photo will not be accepted into the competition, and your post will be removed.
  • It is your responsibility to follow best practices in your discipline or field of study. Take extra care when sharing pictures that may show vulnerable people - if you decide it appropriate for the context to submit a photo that includes a vulnerable person/s, you MUST include evidence of written consent submitted with your picture. Without this consent, your photo will not be accepted into the competition.
  • Check the activity guidelines to find out whether by sharing a photo you automatically allow INASP to post it on a public website (with, of course, an attribution to you).
  • Check that the people who appear in your photo are not averse to having this photo shared in the public domain.
  • If the photo has been taken by someone else (for example, a colleague capturing a moment from your research), that person should have given you permission to use the photo as you please. Alternatively, if you wish to share a photo that is copyrighted by someone else, this photo should be under a CC-BY license, and you should attribute the author or source. In general, copyright issues related to photos you share are entirely your responsibility.
  • If you receive any kind of ‘takedown request’ or any expression of concern from someone shown in a photo that you have shared with INASP and which INASP has already posted on a public website, you should forward this notice to INASP in a timely way. Please see the how to report section below for the relevant contact information.   

‘Netiquette’ for AuthorAID discussion forums

While most participants implicitly know how to interact on a discussion forum, there are occasions where we come across an inappropriate post. Please read through our Netiquette guidelines for what you should and should not do. 

Submitting original work

Should you be required to submit or share your own work on one of the interactive services as part of a learning or feedback activity, this work must be your own work, and an original piece. If you are submitting work that is part of a team endeavour, permission should be obtained from your team members to submit this work on INASP Moodle. 

Further guidelines on originality, such as avoiding plagiarism and citing previous works, may be provided along with specific assignments or activities.

Breach of this policy

When we consider that a breach of the acceptable use policy has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate. 

Failure to comply with this acceptable use policy constitutes a material breach of terms of use upon which you are permitted to use INASP’s interactive services, and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions:

  • Issue of a warning to you
  • Immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use our interactive service(s)
  • Immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any material contributed by you to the interactive service(s)
  • Disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary or as required by law

How to report

Should you have any concerns about content posted in any of the interactive services, or the conduct of other users, please contact reportconcern@inasp.info. Your concern will be dealt with by a member of the AuthorAID team. 

If the concern is a safeguarding matter, it will be reported to the Safeguarding lead, who will follow INASP’s Safeguarding and Digital Safeguarding procedures. See the policy here.

Relevant policies

Please see the INASP Privacy Policy, the INASP Safeguarding & Digital Safeguarding Policy, and AuthorAID’s Terms & Conditions.